Former principal accused of stealing from PTA

Thursday

Oct 31, 2013 at 12:01 AM

STOCKTON - Former Bush Elementary Principal Marlesse Cavazos has been charged with felony embezzlement of nearly $12,000 in funds from the school's parent-teacher organization, San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Stephen Taylor said Wednesday.

Roger Phillips

STOCKTON - Former Bush Elementary Principal Marlesse Cavazos has been charged with felony embezzlement of nearly $12,000 in funds from the school's parent-teacher organization, San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Stephen Taylor said Wednesday.

Cavazos, 51, could not be reached by phone and did not respond to an email seeking comment. It is unknown if she has hired an attorney. Stockton Unified removed her as Bush's principal at the end of the 2012-13 academic year. Superintendent Steve Lowder declined comment.

A source familiar with the school district said Cavazos is on paid leave. If she is convicted, at the very least she will be prohibited from holding a public job in the future, Taylor said.

Cavazos joined Stockton Unified as a teacher in 1998, became principal at Fremont School in 2005 and spent the last two years as principal at Bush. Taylor said Cavazos' arraignment is scheduled for Nov. 14.

"It all starts with loosey-goosey money-handling," Taylor said. "We have got to get the community to do cash-handling in a safer manner and not be so lackadaisical about it. The school had a number of rules for handling money. They were all broken."

The one-count charge against Cavazos stems from an investigation by the school district after concerns were raised in April by several Bush employees, according to documents.

The initial probe was conducted by school district police. Stockton Unified's auditor, Eugene Wyllie, subsequently produced a lengthy report in which he estimated unaccounted-for funds totaling $11,886.70.

A source familiar with the case allowed the Record to review a May 13, 2013, memo from Wyllie to Wayne Martin, who at the time was Stockton Unified's top-ranking business official but has since retired. The source did not provide a copy of the Wyllie memo.

Among the memo's assertions:

» Bush's parent-teacher organization raised more than $14,000 in revenue from sales of items from a catalog within the past two years, but less than $11,600 was deposited into the organization's account.

» A fundraising sale of coupon books generated $6,720 in revenues but less than $5,900 was deposited.

» A book fair in fall 2011 and another the following spring raised nearly $7,000, but only about $320 was deposited.

» Nearly $900 from the parent-teacher organization's bank account may have been used to pay expenses at a cemetery following the death of a Cavazos relative in 2012.

According to the complaint against Cavazos, as principal she was responsible for "the receipt, safekeeping, transfer and disbursement" of the funds, but appropriated $12,000 for "her own use and the use of another." Cavazos is the only person named in the complaint.

Youlin Aissa, a former Stagg High assistant principal, replaced Cavazos as Bush's principal for the current academic year. Aissa said she was unaware of the Cavazos situation. She also said her school did not have a parent-teacher organization when she took charge, but she is hoping one will be started.

"We had incredible involvement of parents in our book fair and we have a lot of interest in our Facebook page," Aissa said. "I think we're in a great trend of increasing parent involvement. It's very encouraging to see."